GEORGETOWN – Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has elevated the issue of chronic gambling addiction to a major national crisis, today announcing plans for the government to implement sweeping new measures, including stricter oversight and higher taxation, to crush the rapidly spreading social ill.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo detailed the devastating impact of “gambling on demand,” which he said has flourished due to liberal licensing and taxation policies. The accessibility of betting via apps and local shops, the Vice President lamented, is “creating a series of negative problems for our communities, breaking up families, creating hardships for a lot of single parents.”
The Social Cost and Regulatory Failure
The Vice President’s concerns are rooted in years of warnings from civil society and a problematic regulatory history. For decades, Guyana’s Gambling Prevention Act was the primary legal framework, but recent amendments to allow online sports betting and casinos—initially intended to stimulate tourism and hotel revenue—have led to an uncontrolled spread of betting activity into local communities. This has triggered concerns that low-income citizens, in particular, are sinking their limited incomes into gambling, leading to social decay and reduced productivity.
Jagdeo spoke to the most painful consequence: “People go to these little places, the shops in their communities, and all day long, on their phone, thinking about some credit to put in a bet.” He warned that many parents are shortchanging their children, depriving them of “school clothes and other essential things,” and stated: “Some people don’t even want to work. They live for that little credit on their phone to place a bet.”
The Plan: Stricter Oversight and Taxes
The government now intends to reverse the trend by tightening the reins on operators. Jagdeo announced that new initiatives will implement stronger regulatory measures and introduce appropriate taxation aimed at disincentivizing the addictive behavior and mitigating its social fallout.
“It is one every phone, it’s an app and it’s facilitated by the local establishments and on a very liberal licencing policy and a very liberal taxation policy,” Jagdeo noted, confirming that the current “liberal” framework will be fundamentally reformed. He declared: “Something has to be done about it, and we intend to do something about it.” The announcement signals a major pivot toward prioritizing social protection over easy tax revenue from the booming, but socially destructive, community gambling sector.
